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The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the regulatory agency that manages Texas’ power grid, said tight grid conditions are expected the week of June 14 due to high number of forced generation outages, and urged Texans to conserve energy.
The announcement came one month after it published its latest seasonal assessment projecting a less than a 1% chance of blackouts occurring this summer. It also came just four months after the state’s historic power grid failure left millions of Texans in the cold and dark. Without heat and water during sub-zero temperatures in mid-February, 111 Texans died.
On June 14, ERCOT asked Texans to reduce electric use as much as possible through June 18. ERCOT reported tight grid conditions after a significant number of forced generation outages occurred with record electric use for the month of June.
Generator owners reported approximately 11,000 MW of generation was on forced outage for repairs. Of that, approximately 8,000 MW is thermal, whereby water is heated to drive an electrical generator, and 3,000 MW was from intermittent sources like solar and wind. According to the summer Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy, a typical range of thermal generation outages on hot summer days is around 3,600 MW. One MW typically powers around 200 homes on a summer day, ERCOT states.
“We will be conducting a thorough analysis with generation owners to determine why so many units are out of service,” ERCOT Vice President of Grid Planning and Operations Woody Rickerson said in a statement. “This is unusual for this early in the summer season.”
Wind output—which is generally unreliable, because wind does not blow all the time or every day—was expected to be between 3,500 and 6,000 MW between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. June 14, roughly 1,500 MW lower than what is typically available for peak conditions. Wind output is expected to increase as the week goes on, when and if, there is more wind.
June 14’s peak load forecast may exceed 73,000 MW—more than the peak demand recorded for June 27, 2018 of 69,123 MW between 4 and 5 p.m., ERCOT warned.
After ERCOT’s massive failures in February, bills were introduced in the state legislature and recently signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott to reform ERCOT. Abbott vowed that through these reforms, the Texas power grid would be more reliable.
Yet weeks later, ERCOT continued “to exaggerate its reserve margins of electricity available to Texans, claiming there’s less than a 1% chance of more blackouts this summer,” the Texas Public Policy Foundation argues.ERCOT’s overconfidence one month ago “is a slap in the face to the Texans it is supposed to serve,” TPPF’s Jason Isaac said in a statement. “The problem is straightforward, if not simple—reserve margin calculations overestimate performance of wind and solar, which make up a significant and growing chunk of our electric generation,” Isaac said. “Unlike natural gas, clean coal and nuclear—which produce a near-constant flow of electricity with reliability percentages rarely falling below the mid-90s—wind and solar production fluctuates wildly. For example, in just one summer week in 2019, wind generated between 2% and 63% of its installed capacity.”
Isaac warned last year summer blackouts were coming to Texas. Outages would have occurred last August if there hadn’t been a lower electricity demand during the state shutdown, he added. A recent close call on a mild April day “should have been a wakeup call,” Isaac argued. Instead, ERCOT was “citing a deceptively rosy 15.7% reserve margin projection for this summer and 28.8% for 2022.”
Its faulty calculation was based on relying on wind and solar energy generation, Isaac said; “and bad policies that discourage building reliable generation, we should get used to blackouts unless something changes fast.” ERCOT has not adjusted its reliance on unreliable sources of wind and solar for energy and is asking Texans to reduce electric use. Texans are encouraged to set their thermostat to 78 degrees or higher, turn off lights and pool pumps and avoid using large appliances like ovens, washing machines and dryers for the rest of the week.
Texans are also encouraged to turn off and unplug all electrical devices if they aren’t using them.
AutoNation Expands AutoNation USA Footprint to New Market
AutoNation, Inc., America’s largest automotive retailer, on May 25 announced the opening of AutoNation USA San Antonio, the first of five additional stores the company will open this year.
AutoNation is targeting to have more than 130 AutoNation USA stores in operation from coast to coast by the end of 2026. The AutoNation USA stores will continue to leverage the AutoNation brand, scale and proven customer-centric processes to capture a larger share of the used vehicle market.
“We are excited to welcome customers to our newest AutoNation USA store in San Antonio,” said Steve Kwak, AutoNation USA president. “We are also excited to offer employment opportunities to the local market. Our responsibility is to provide a peerless customer experience in San Antonio and support the community through our Drive Pink initiative. Drive Pink has raised nearly $27 million in the fight against cancer. AutoNation is committed to serving the local communities in which we serve.”
AutoNation USA offers a 1Price Pre-Owned model that features low, haggle-free pricing and a customer-centric process that makes buying a pre-owned vehicle easy. Additionally, AutoNation offers “We’ll Buy Your Car,” which enables customers to sell their vehicles directly to AutoNation, with no purchase necessary.
AutoNation USA San Antonio is the first AutoNation store in the San Antonio, TX, market. The store is located at 15423 West I-10, San Antonio, TX 78249. AutoNation USA San Antonio is open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and closed on Sundays.
Source: AutoNation
